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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25705582">Angel</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelynMoon/pseuds/AngelynMoon'>AngelynMoon</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Vikings (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angel Wings, Blizzards &amp; Snowstorms, Fallen Angels, Gen, Loss of Limbs, Sort Of, Supernatural Elements</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 09:01:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>831</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25705582</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelynMoon/pseuds/AngelynMoon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Athelstan wasn't always a Priest/monk.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Athelstan &amp; Gyda (Vikings), Athelstan &amp; Ragnar Lothbrok, Minor or Background Relationship(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Angel</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>As always if you think a tag is needed let me know.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Athelstan's shoulders hurt, they always do in winter, when the cold creeps up and seeps beneath his skin.</p><p>It pains him on days like this to lift his arms above his head, to lift anything really, though he managed, has had to.</p><p>Athelstan sets the bucket of snow down, only for a moment, only so he can try rubbing the ache from his shoulders, but the ache does not subside, never does, never will and Athelstan has long stopped expecting it to.</p><p>The winter wind whips against his face and Athelstan pauses as he bends down to collect the bucket of snow for Lagertha to melt.</p><p>He cannot help straightening without the bucket, cannot help the way his eyes drift closed.</p><p>The wind ruffles his hair, smacks against his face and Athelstan remembers....</p><p>"Athelstan!" Little Gyda's voice cuts through the wind's howling, breaks through the snow's walls and pulls Athelstan back to the present, out of his memories.</p><p>For a second Athelstan is disoriented, adrift and falling, falling, falling, like he did so long ago. </p><p>Athelstan cannot be sure how long he was lost in his memories, lost in his past but Gyda sounds lost and it takes Athelstan a moment to realize that the wind and snow falling around him was much worse than when he fell into his memories, a sudden storm had arrived with little warning.</p><p>And Gyda does not just sound lost, she is lost, lost and adrift in a winter storm.</p><p>Athelstan turns, squinting through the falling snow but it is not Gyda he looks for, not her form anyway.</p><p>Athelstan leaves his bucket of snow and makes his way to Gyda, the small girl stumbling and falling from the force of the wind.</p><p>As Athelstan lifts her he can't help praying that Ragnar and Bjorn beat the storm back to Lagertha.</p><p>Gyda shivers against him and Athelstan's shoulders ache on the verge of burning with her weight.</p><p>He wishes that he could warm her.</p><p>He wishes....</p><p>His shoulders twitch as he begins their journey back home.</p><p>Gyda tucks her face into his neck and her cold fingers make their home beneath his collar as he walks, the wind and snow obscuring his vision but that doesn't concern him, not really.</p><p>The wind crashes against him and he stumbles but does not stray, the strands of his hair leave red marks against his cheeks as the wind whips him with them and Athelstan almost forgets where he is, almost forgets....</p><p>"Athelstan!" Ragnar's voice cries out over the wind and suddenly there are warm hands grasping his arms, guiding him into warmth and taking Gyda from him.</p><p>Quick hands begin to remove his wet and frozen clothing as Lagertha orders someone to fetch blankets.</p><p>Athelstan blinks as Ragnar's hands rub hard against his skin and he cannot help crying out when those hands dug into his shoulders.</p><p>It hurts, burns and Athelstan does not realize he is crying as Ragnar guides him down to sit in front of the fire as Lagertha deposits a blanket wrapped Gyda nearby.</p><p>"What?" Ragnar asks as his fingers trace gently over the scars that run down Athelstan's back from shoulder to hip, one on each side.</p><p>Even the gentle caress is painful and Athelstan flinches away as much as he's able, which isn't much.</p><p>"I wasn't always a priest." Athelstan manages to answer, lets Ragnar take it as he will because Athelstan cannot explain further.</p><p>How can he? Athelstan wonders as Ragnar tucks a blanket around him and pulls him and Gyda into his warmth as Lagertha warms soup for them.</p><p>How can Athelstan explain that he found Gyda, not by her calling out for him, but by the glow of her innocent soul. How can he explain that he had not actually felt the cold wind, only the ache in his shoulders that it gave him.</p><p>How can Athelstan explain to this man, this Pagan who does not believe in his God or anything else but his own Gods and Goddesses, that before Athelstan was a Priest, a Monk, before Lindisfarne, before England, before he was Athelstan, that he had been a warrior, a soldier of God.</p><p>How could Athelstan ever explain that once, long ago, he had been free to fly.</p><p>How could Athelstan tell Ragnar that before he'd been a priest he had been an Angel of God.</p><p>---</p><p>A/n: Just going through my prompt thoughts and this called to be written.</p><p>In this before Athelstan found himself at Lindisfarne he was an Angel, his wings were taken in battle by a demon and he fell to earth, none of the other Monks were aware that Athelstan used to be an Angel, I imagine they would have taken his warnings more seriously if they had.</p><p>But now he is with Ragnar, trapped in a mortal shell with Scars where his wings once were and even now he holds onto his secret because Ragnar would never believe the truth.</p>
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